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Jeremy Clarkson has responded to complaints about the pricing of food and drink at his new pub, The Farmer’s Dog.
Hundreds of people were seen queuing outside the presenter’s new watering hole in Asthall, near Burford in Oxfordshire, as it opened to the public for the first time on Friday (23 August).
The pub’s restaurant has two menus, a weekday main menu, which consists of British classics like sausage and mash, steak pie and a Lancashire hotpot. On weekends, a carvery is served between midday and 9pm.
When the menu was first shared with the public on the Farmer’s Dog Instagram page, Clarkson’s fans remarked that there were no prices on the menu, which might suggest that dishes would be more expensive compared to pubs in the area.
“You know it’s expensive when they don’t include the prices,” wrote one fan on Instagram, as another added: “No prices. Always a worry.”
When one commenter joked on X/Twitter that they would need to remortgage their home to afford a round of drinks at the new pub, Clarkson responded: “It’s £5.50 a pint.”
At the time of the opening, the former Top Gear presenter said that all produce used in the restaurant’s dishes would be locally sourced and produced by British farmers.
“The menu changes – it’s whatever we’ve got. There’s no Coca-Cola, no coffee, other pubs do coffee. Cornish tea. We do British food.
“Everything that you consume in here – every single thing – even the black pepper and the sugar, is grown by British farmers,” he told the crowd.
Clarkson added that he had tried the gammon, parsley sauce and bubble and squeak from the menu. Some of the produce is sourced from his farm Diddly Squat, which is the centre of his Amazon series Clarkson’s Farm.
According to LadBible, some of the main dishes range from £15 for a vegetable and cheddar crumble to £19 for the Lancashire hotpot.
As for the smaller plates, chicken liver pate with onion chutney is sold for £9 and garlic mushrooms with a poached egg for £8.
Desserts including apple crumble and the cheesecake of the day are priced at £8, while the strawberry meringue costs £9.
The pub also sells merchandise themed around Clarkson’s popular Hawkstone brewery. The most expensive item on sale is the Hawkstone jumper, which is sold for £60, with other items including an apron for £40, a goat-themed t-shirt for £28, a dog bowl for £35 and a bottle opener for £14.
Asked by reporters why he wanted to open a pub ahead of the grand opening of The Farmer’s Dog, Clarkson said it was the next best thing after he couldn’t open a restaurant on his farm.
“We wanted to have that restaurant on the farm last year and we couldn’t, and pubs, they are all for sale.
“So, we thought instead of building a restaurant we would buy a pub.”
Clarkson has faced backlash over the years from locals in West Oxfordshire when he has attempted to expand his Diddly Squat farm project.
Some residents were concerned that the pub’s existence would cause local traffic issues because it is located next to the busy A40. But Oxfordshire County Council has said its been working closely with Clarkson and his team to reduce the likelihood of traffic issues ahead of the opening.
The presenter described the whole process of becoming a pub landlord as “terribly stressful” and said there are many inconveniences that “you don’t think about”.
